dot hack WAVE
by Cinnabar Scarlett
Summary: **NEW!! CHAPTER 5 UPDATED!!** The plot thickens, as Tsukasa and Elk begin to unravel the mystery of the child who seems to be another Aura prototype... but will they find the key to their quest? Will one of them end up in a coma? R/R~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. Encounter

****

Disclaimer: This story takes place **after** .hack//SIGN, and therefore, has some potential spoilers; read after seeing the show unless you want some things spoiled! This story has little relation to any of the other branches of Project .Hack, but uses a character from the game, Elk, whom is potentially the same person, but with some minor tweaks. PG for mild language and mild violence. I do not own Project .Hack, or any of it's components, they are copyrighted © by their official owners, all rights reserved.

****

.hack//WAVE

encounter: 001

A WaveMaster-class PC stepped down from the log-in/out Chaos Gate in the Dona-Roiak main server of "The World." It had been a long time since he had played; for the last time had been a not-so-pleasant experience for him. He had been stuck in the game, and his Real-World body had been thrown into an instant coma—he had not been able to log-out, for his conscious had been stuck in the game. Even if he died within "The World," he would still be reincarnated. He could feel pain. But now he was a free-player. No longer omnipresent.

Closing his eyes and walking forward, he felt the wind on his face, blowing his brick-white hair. Sighing, he turned and leaned against a wooden railing at the edge of the cliff. Dona-Roiak was full of green hills with rocky alcoves and mountains, windmills and wind-toys flowing through the air. It was the central server of "The World" where all characters logged in and out. He mused upon all the hours, days, **weeks**, he'd spent there.

Feeling the rough surface of the wood against his cheek, the WaveMaster opened his deep, purple-slate eyes and gazed upon the twilight over the mist-shrouded hidden-valleys. The twilight was beautiful; even more so than he remembered it being in Tokyo where he lived. The vivid pixel-image of the sky soothed him, and he remembered how much he'd enjoyed this game, despite his ensealment within its depths.

He was glad in away that he had been persuaded to play the game again. Mimiru, his class-mate and former-comrade within "The World" had constantly passed notes:

__

[ Tsukasa-- Please log-on to "The World" tonight, 5:30, okay? The New Update came in, and we should try one of the new dungeons! Come on! --Mimiru]

And Subaru—another comrade—had been constantly calling him every day, trying to get him to come. He made a personal note to try and dodge her character if he ever saw her in "The World":

__

[Tsukasa, let's get together today; we can play "The World" at my house. I heard the New Update is neat.]

He shuddered, and returned to gazing at the twilight. Now he was here. What to do?

However, before he could think of anything, the WaveMaster—Tsukasa—heard muffled screams coming from behind him. He slowly turned his head, and saw an unfamiliar-skinned character attacking a blue WaveMaster. The character—he assumed they were a PK, due to their strange character-skin—was clad in all black robes, tied with buckles and ropes, bearing two long katana blades and lustrous black hair. The victim had basically the same skin as Tsukasa, but in a blue-tone set, not a brown-tone. His hair was ice-blue, and his eyes were crimson. His long staff had been knocked from his hands, and now lay on the ground a few digimeters away from him.

Tsukasa walked forward cautiously to see what was happening.

But before he was too close, the PK teleported away, leaving just the struggling WaveMaster on the ground. Tsukasa bent over, and looked at them.

"Need healing?" he inquired.

The blue character struggled to talk, but managed to make out a muffled 'yes'.

"Grab my hand," Tsukasa told him, "I'll heal you."

"Th…thanks…"

Tsukasa used a full-heal item, and the WaveMaster's character shimmered for a bit, then returned to normal.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Tsukasa murmured as he walked away. Maybe he could find one of the new dungeons.

"Um…I…" the boy stammered. "Do you—"

He would have finished, but Tsukasa rudely teleported away through the nearest Chaos Gate.

When his character materialized, he was in Mak-Anu, the City of Water; "The World's" digital Venice. He pushed his way passed the crowds of other players, and sat down with his feet dangling off the stone side of one of the water canals. Hugging his knees to his chest, and setting his head on his knees, Tsukasa gazed into the ever-moving surface of the water that reflected the salmon and gold-streaked twilight-sky above. Images blurred together as a water-beetle skimmed the surface causing ripples to disturb Tsukasa's reflection. He slowly reached for his staff, and lowered it down, pushing the beetle around with the weapon's end.

Sighing, he pushed the beetle underwater and waited until it died.

But even so, it was boring. He wanted to do something, now that he was in "The World". Now that he was no longer bound by time; his day parceled into tiny packages at school and at home. In "The World" he was free, a high-class mage or sorcerer, not a Japanese student. He could ask one of the other players where a dungeon might be, but it would seem weird for a PC of his class to ask that. Everyone would laugh, or think that he had hacked into the game to get the skin, and then he would be in trouble again. And he didn't want that.

So he sat and racked his mind for something to do. The Chaos Gates in "The World" were all unfamiliar to him, for he had never bothered to use them before. He had always just teleported himself away with his ocarina—a secret item he had found in some high-level dungeon. Tsukasa felt around in his tunic, coming across the familiar bulge of the item. Reaching into his shirt—and luckily not drawing a bunch of suspicious glances, for no one was paying attention to him—he pulled out the ocarina. It was sleek and beige, sort of egg-shaped but a bit more pointed, with six finger holes, and a stubby mouthpiece protruding from its polished surface. With it, he could transport himself anywhere within "The World" that he wanted.

Smiling a bit, he began to stand up. However, a long, dark shadow was cast over him. Fearing that it was the PK from earlier, or some annoying player that had seen his rare item—the ocarina—and wanted to buy it from him, Tsukasa froze up. However, it was neither.

The blue-clad WaveMaster sat down next to him, and set his staff next to the edge of the water, dangerously close for Tsukasa's liking, but far enough away from the edge that it would have to be obviously pushed in order to fall in.

"Hey, you're Tsukasa, right?" the boy inquired. "The legendary Tsukasa with that guardian…?

Tsukasa shrugged. "Sure."

"It is you, isn't it?"

"…yeah."

"I… never thought that I'd see you."

Tsukasa said nothing in reply to this, but stared at the water some more. He could see the dead carcass of the beetle he'd held under water, slowly deciding whether it should sink to the bottom or float to the top; then over-loading its server, it disappeared into oblivion.

"Here," the boy held a sprig of grass, digi-millimeters in front of Tsukasa's nose. "C-can you… smell it, t-too?"

Tsukasa coughed and pushed the plant away. It smelled heavily like perfume, not like grass should.

"You… you can smell it?" the boy asked excitedly. "You really c-can smell it!?"

"Of course."

The blue WaveMaster smiled. "I was b-beginning to think I…I was the only one. Whenever… whenever I asked someone else. Th…they'd just looked at me s-strangely and then walk… away."

Tsukasa wanted to retort and say something around 'that's because you're some strange PC who shoves grass in people's faces', but he didn't say a word. It seemed obvious that he should smell it—he always had been able to. He could smell, hear, taste and feel in "The World", like always. Like when he was omnipresent within it…

But then a sudden thought struck him. Mimiru and Subaru… they had never been able to do any of that. If he wasn't stuck in "The World", how could he smell the grass? How could he feel the stone against his body, the sleek surface of his ocarina, the wind through his hair?

"Why?"

"I don't know," the WaveMaster answered him, taking back the grass and putting it in a pouch that hung around his shoulders. "I think it might have been part of the System Upgrade."

Tsukasa stood up, and began to walk away.

"Please… don't go!" the blue-clad boy stammered. "D-do you want to… do… a dungeon together or… or something?"

Tsukasa said nothing in reply, but began to move one foot forward, staring at the puzzle of stones that made the road.

"No one else will go with me… a-and…" he stuttered, seemingly at a loss for words, "…you're the first person who hasn't just… b-blown me off, and…! P-please? I'm n-not a n-n-newbie, or… anything. We can do whatever dungeon you like. I… I don't mind! Just something… please? This game isn't fun unless… you're…"

Tsukasa moved the other foot forward. He hated people pushing themselves on him. He wished that everyone would just leave him alone; he'd talk to them if he wanted. This WaveMaster just wouldn't get the clue.

"It's not fun if you're alone!" he concluded. "I can't stand being alone in this place… it just… m-makes me f-feel that… I'm the only one in 'The W-world'."

Tsukasa turned his head vaguely, and looked at the persistent character. His eyes were hollow and glassy, like crimson beads, or drops of crystalline blood, frozen and smooth. They made Tsukasa shudder. The boy had no pupils, no nothing in his eyes. He wondered why such a skin for a character was created; it was so haunting!

"…I'm sorry," the blue-clad WaveMaster looked down at his feet. "I didn't mean to push myself on you. I…I'm just really bored here, and that PK stole all of my items… and… I don't really want to continue playing this game, really. But if you would… go to a dungeon with me… maybe… uh… I… I'm not really good with words. But… I just want to fight some things and g-get some rare-items, sell them and you know, do stuff you're… s-supposed to in this g-game… and…a-and…"

"Well…" Tsukasa looked up to the sky, and sighed. "That in it's own way… might be fun."

"R-really?!" The WaveMaster inquired ecstatically. "That's g-great—I mean, thank you!"

Tsukasa managed a wry smile.

"I…" he started, but thought better of it. "W-where to go?"

The brown-clad WaveMaster shrugged. "Mushroom Field has some stuff… but… uh…"

"Those are intermediate dungeons, right?"

"Yeah… What about that Church in the middle of the mist-filled lake?"

"Sure," he smiled. "That s-sounds g-g-great!"

Tsukasa managed another wry smile, and held out his hand.

The WaveMaster gave him a questioning glance, and Tsukasa shuddered; those eyes!

"You don't have any items," Tsukasa said, "And if we're gonna do a dungeon, it's better not to waste MP on transportation spells. I have an item to transport us anywhere I want."

"But what about t-the Chaos G-gates?"

"Never used them," Tsukasa shrugged the question off, and pushed his hand forward. "I can't transport you if you aren't holding on."

"Oh… okay." The blue WaveMaster hesitantly reached out his own blue-fingerless-gloved hand, and slowly wrapped his small fingers around Tsukasa's hand. Even with the Update, the characters weren't warm. "I-I'm E-e-elk, b-by the w-way."

Tsukasa reached into his shirt again, and brought out the pallid ocarina. Elk's eyes widened, red pools of iced-over , half-melting blood, glassy with liquid.

"But that item's—"

His words were cut off by the shrill note—an 'a'—that Tsukasa piped out of the item. Orange rings formed around them, and with a burst of light, they disappeared and were transported to a realm of computer-coding. Ones and zeros flashed all around them, and words in computer-script floated around. Tsukasa had been here before—whenever he had tried to log-out, it had taken him here. When he was thrown into a coma and stuck in "The World" he had first been zipped here. His eyes widened now, dark purple abysses where not even the fish of the deep-deep sea could go.

"You can't use that—!"

But once again, Elk was interrupted. They were engulfed in light, and then something that felt like a rock hit them in the backs, and they were thrown forward into the fathomless void of the system. Tsukasa watched as his skin was ripped away slowly, and as his clothes and body began to dissolve. He managed to turn his head and see Elk, to whom the same things were happening, and he trembled. The boy's eyes were larger than ever, for he was frightened. Tsukasa smiled, and Elk looked even more horrified as he saw the grin.

He didn't know why he was smiling, but it just felt so right to do so. He almost laughed; boy, would Bear, Mimiru and Subaru have a shock if he got stuck in "The World" again! But before he could think more, another invisible something hit them—but this time hit their fronts—and a bright light coruscated.

When they could see again, Tsukasa found himself laying face-down on a soft bed of grass. His eyes bolted open, and he shot up to his feet. The grass smelt like heavy perfume, like the type that Elk had showed him before. He looked down and saw the boy on the ground, too. Their skins were back, and it looked like nothing had changed. But…

Tsukasa looked around himself as Elk tried to get him. Where were they? This was not the Church.

They were underwater, it appeared. His long brown tunic slowly billowed around his feet, and his clothes moved with the flow of the unfeelable water. His hair flowed around his face, and the same was true with Elk's. It was not merely grass, but a sort of sea-grass, and coral and sea-weed were present, too, he noticed. The sea-weed moved from side to side as if a current was there.

Leaning against his staff for support, Elk managed a weak, "Where…?"

Tsukasa shrugged, and continued surveying the scene. They were definitely in an underwater, but the water wasn't there. It was as if the Upgrade missed this server.

As he looked passed a school of shimmering mackerel, Tsukasa realized why.

There was a bed, with winding sea-weed, starfish and barnacles along its frame, and a sheet blowing with the unfelt current. But that was not what worried him.

Above the bed floated a child seemingly made of opalescent light. A child clothed in a billowing white sheet-like garment. A child with their eyes closed. A sleeping child.

Elk walked up to Tsukasa's side.

"Th-that item's been forbidden since after the Upgrade and—"

But he stopped as he saw the sleeping child.

"Who…?"

Tsukasa said nothing at first, but just gawked. The child's hair was short, but still flowing with the 'water', and their pale face bared no markings like the PKs'. However, their pudgy, baby-face and short, baby-hands and feet reminded him of _her_. That was why this server was not upgraded. It was a secret server—a forbidden place where a sleeping child laid. Tsukasa didn't turn towards Elk, but answered him finally.

"It's…" _no, it wasn't _ "…it's…" _it wasn't…!_ "It… is…" _no! It wasn't her…!_

It wasn't Aura!

To be Continued in: '**submergence: 002**_'_

****

Note: Soooo… how was it? Us at **Blue Sea **would sure like to think of what you thought of our .hack fanfic, .hack//WAVE. This **is** only the first chapter (we don't quite know how many chapters there are in total), and more **are** planned to come out. If you liked it, or disliked it, or have comments, suggestions, peeves, inquiries, or any other sort of feedback, we would **really like to hear it**!


	2. Submergence

****

Note: By the way, for all that's needed to know, Elk's Player is male. I really don't know if it EVER told you in the game, and so I don't know. But he's a guy. Sarath and Raven I think are mentioned in this chapter. They are characters us at **Blue Sea** (we created this, and Cinnabar Scarlett, who's user ID we are using is one of us and he wrote it) created, and visit our .hack//WAVE homepage for bios on them. There's a link to it on Cinnabar Scarlett's profile page, supposedly. ^-^ Happy reading. Enjoy, and please give us feedback!

****

.hack//WAVE

submergence: 002

The sun was high in the sky now, signifying noon. It beat over the plains and rocky mountains of Dona-Roiak, and the Players all could feel the heat even without that being part of the Upgrade. It was a lazy Saturday afternoon, and Tsukasa lounged around, leaning on the wooden-railing around the cliffs behind the Chaos Gate, loitering, and trying to waste time. He had no homework, and didn't have anything better to do than sit around in "The World". Not to mention he had an appointment with Elk. They were going to do the Church dungeon, and this time, Elk would show the way through Chaos Gates.

Tsukasa felt the bump of the ocarina again. Although he had been informed that the item had been banned when the System Upgrade came in, he just couldn't part with it. He couldn't quite remember how, but he had gone through a lot to get it, and he couldn't just delete it, or something. And Elk wouldn't let him, even if he **did **want to get rid of it. Elk liked the secret server; it had more of that grass.

"H-hey," Elk greeted Tsukasa, stammering in his usual fashion. "H-h-how was your… s-school week?"

He shrugged in answer. "Nm."

"'Nm'?" Elk repeated the vague sound. "N-not that g-g-good, eh?"

Tsukasa shrugged again, and stood up straight. "Well, let's go."

"You don't… sound too… h-happy."

"You don't sound too comfortable."

"E-eh?"

"You're always stammering." Tsukasa explained tersely. "It's annoying."

"S-sorry…" Elk stuttered, and then realizing he did it again, he blushed and looked away. At least the characters in the game didn't blush… only their players.

They began walking in silence towards the Chaos Gate, when a PC materialized out of it.

She was a HeavyBlade-user—like Mimiru—and had blonde hair in much the same style. Her armor was more detailed, however. It was rimmed with gold in a twisting-vine pattern, and large green jewels were prominent, embedded into the silver backing. Her bright orange eyes glistened with the sunlight, and the emblem of a phoenix showed on the shining armor. Her black tights were stitched with the rays of the sun going across them, and her knee-pads were replicas of a stylistic sun seen on tapestries in one of the dungeons. As her honey-eyes took in the two WaveMasters, she smiled with glee.

"Elk, Elk, Elk!!" she screeched, jumping forward and grabbing his hands. "You're back!"

He looked worriedly at her, and tried to slip away from her grip.

"I heard about that new PK attacking a blue-tone WaveMaster on the BBS, and I was soooo worried that it might be you, and so I was freaking out, because sometimes those PKs do things that harm the player as well as your character, and I didn't want anything bad to happen to you, and I was going to call you, but you were online, so I decided to try to find you here, and then Raven got me to do this dungeon, and then—" she paused to take a breath from her fast rambling, and smiled. "And then there was some stupid boss and I died, but she lived—of course—and I had to re-log in, and so I logged in, and that's the main log-in/out game, and then I found you two here, and… Who's that?"

"T-t-that's…" Elk stammered, "T-t-ts-suka-s-s-sa."

"'T-t-ts-suka-s-s-sa'?"

"I'm **Tsukasa**," he corrected, moving his white bangs from his purple eyes.

"Oh, I was just humoring Elk here, with his stuttering habit and all," she grinned. "You're kinda cute. Tsukasa is it? Where do you live?"

He glared at her and said nothing.

"Aw, c'mon!" she laughed, and then whispered to Elk, "Does he have social disorders or something?"

Tsukasa heard, and glared further.

"Your cute friend's kinda' pissy," she whispered rather loud. "What's his problem."

"I'm **not** a guy," Tsukasa pushed his way passed her, and decided that it was better logging out than having people talk about him right in front of him.

Elk pulled out one hand from the girl's grasp, and reached it out towards Tsukasa. "No, don't go—!"

"Sheesh," the HeavyBlade-user character sighed, putting her hands on her hip-guards. "Well, **I'm** a guy."

* * *

Tsukasa curled his legs up to his chest, and rested his head on his knees. His back was up against a large, rocky pillar. He closed his eyes, and felt like disappearing.

"H-hey…!" Elk said, coming up to him. "I th-thought that you l-logged out."

"Well, I didn't," he answered. "Stop stammering. It's really annoying."

Elk looked hurt, but tried not to show it. "Sorry."

"So, do you want to do that dungeon?"

"S-sure."

They stood up, and began to walk away.

"I'm s-sorry about Sarath," Elk said, trying his hardest not to stammer. "She likes to hang out with me in 'The World'. I think her player's a guy, or something. B-but, she's actually really nice."

"Good for her." Tsukasa said. "Where's the dungeon?"

"O-over th-th-there," he gestured with his staff at a large, black hole in the middle of a rocky outcropping. "I heard that it's pretty hard. R-Raven—she's a comrade of Sarath's—likes to do hard d-dungeons. I've tried it o-once, but I d-d-died."

"Nm," Tsukasa mumbled. "It looks like some place I was. I thought we were going to the church dungeon?"

"The BBS said that its in a restricted server now," Elk explained. He was getting the hang of talking without stammering.

"What do you care?" Tsukasa inquired. "You're the one that likes that secret server with the smelly grass."

"D-don't…" he stopped. "I just like the grass. A friend of mine gave me some, a while ago."

"What was there name?" Tsukasa asked, trying to make conversation as they walked into the dungeon.

"Mia. She was a cat-PC."

"'Mia'?" Tsukasa was reminded of Maha, that cat-PC that he had met in 'The World' when he had been stuck within it. Maha had given him a sprig of the aromatic grass, too. "Never heard of her."

"It doesn't matter," Elk quickly said. "Don't worry about it."

As they walked, a glowing orange orb appeared in front of them. Tsukasa held out his staff, and it turned into a large monster with curled horns atop its deranged head and a frothing mouth baring sharp fangs. He closed his eyes, and concentrated on a spell.

"Fire Ball!" he shouted, thrusting his staff outwards, at the monster. A blazing ball of virtual fire, surrounded by flashing rings of red, glowing magic was thrown forth, and it engulfed the enemy with a blast of light. Tsukasa closed his eyes, and held his staff out defensively, incase the creature decided to attack him.

When the light faded, he saw that the monster was still standing. Its health-meter was full-up, and he frowned. It must be immune to fire magic.

Elk stepped forward, and pointed the front of his intricately-engraved WaveMaster's staff out at the monster. It roared, and slashed out with its spiked tail as if it were a club. The two boys jumped and dodged it, and they landed back on their feet. Elk closed his eyes, and a blue substance formed around his weapon. Spinning like rings around a planet, the blue ice-magic got larger and larger, until it was too heavy and cold. He swung his staff like a baseball bat, and the sticky magic was pushed off, flying through the air like a ball until it hit the monster. It engulfed their enemy with ice, and it was temporarily frozen.

Tsukasa's dark violet eyes widened; he was impressed. "Soul Shatter!" he called, sending forth a blast of vivid yellow magic that shattered the ice and the monster like lightning. Its HP bar cascaded down to '0', and the monster faded into a ring of light.

"It's dead," Elk pointed out, walking over to where it had been and bending down. He picked up two items and threw one to Tsukasa. "Here. They're Potions."

"Thanks," he mumbled.

Elk smiled vaguely, and they walked on. The two WaveMasters soon came to an intersection of two different paths through the cave. Elk sighed, and turned to Tsukasa to decide which way they would go.

"Hey," a sarcastic smile flashed onto Tsukasa's face, but Elk couldn't see it through the dimly-lit dungeon. "It's a dark, scary cave. Let's split up."

"Huh?" Elk inquired. "But—"

"It was sarcastic," he said. "Let's go right."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Because it's the right way. 'Right' is right and left is… not. Let's go."

They turned, and began down the tunnel. It spiraled downwards into the depths of the dungeon, and Tsukasa began to feel unsure if it being the right way. Of course, the two paths would probably just meet up together soon, anyway. He narrowed his eyes and tried to make out anything in the darkness. There was no lighting anymore, just the faint, orangeish light coming from the large room they had entered through. There had been fiery torches there, but there were none here. Tsukasa wondered why. Shouldn't it be lit so players could see their way through? He ignored the thought, and checked his MP. Even though he had used two spells, it was still pretty high. He didn't need to use an item.

"H-hey, Tsukasa?" Elk asked. "What was that person in the secret server?"

He said nothing, and let his comrade continue.

"You never really told me; just said 'It's…', and then you left," he said. "Do you know anything about them?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"P-positive?"

He nodded. "It looked like someone that I met last time I played this game, but it wasn't them. That character… is gone."

"Oh." He stated. "Sorry—"

Elk was stopped by something grabbing him in the dark. He tried to call out to Tsukasa, but he could neither speak, nor see his comrade. A raspy voice spoke to him, close to his ear. The person speaking tightened their grip around his neck and shoulders, and held him captive with one hand over his mouth.

__

"Give it to me…" it hissed, like a snake. _"You have it… Now give it to me!"_

Elk tried to say he didn't have 'it' and didn't know what 'it' was, but the person's hand was in his mouth. They threatened him by jamming his whole mouth with their hand. _"Give it."_

The game registered a vibration shock to the player, like it always did when you were hurt. The Upgrade covered all sorts of things like that. There was a joke on the BBS saying that next, "The World" would register pain into the Players mind.

Elk's captor's other hand held a long katana blade, and after his not speaking, he could feel the blade puncture his tunic-shirt.

__

"Give me the item…" the voice whispered. _"Give it to me… or die…"_

Elk squeezed his eyes closed, and wished that Tsukasa would come to him and help him; wished that Mia would help him, or Raven, or Sarath. But no one came; no one could hear him. He was alone, stranded in the ocean. A stray child, like Tsukasa, with false wings of hope that were shattered like glass keys in the twilight under the moon. The PK's katana blade ripped through the center of his shirt, and Elk prayed that they wouldn't kill him. He hadn't saved for a long time, and he had done some important things since then… not to mention he'd have to find his way back to where he was, and then regain all his experience.

"DEAD SCREAM!"

Tsukasa's voice rang out loudly throughout the halls of the dungeon, and immediately, the PK disappeared. A flash of purple magic blew through the air, and hit the wall where the PK had been. Elk sunk to his knees, and fell onto his face on the staircase. The steps were hard and cold.

"You okay?" Tsukasa bent down next to him. "Need healing?"

"Nnnngg…" Elk groaned, trying to push himself up.

"Why are the PKs so interested in you?" he inquired. "That's the second time that one's fled after beating you up."

"I don't… know…"

"You sure?"

"…"

"Okay, then." Tsukasa stood up. "Well, we'd better get going. There's a couple more rooms down there, and I don't think it's a dead-end."

"…O…okay…" Elk pushed himself up, and crossed his arms in front of his chest to hide the tear in his tunic.

* * *

Pretty soon, after defeating three more cannon-fodder monsters and a semi-boss, the two WaveMasters stumbled into a room full-up with lava pits and falling boulders. It reminded Tsukasa of a temple in a videogame… which one was it again? Something about an elf going out to save a princess from an evil dark lord that stole one third of a sacred source of power… He gave up trying to remember it, and looked down into the bubbling reddish brine. Unlike the water in Mak-Anu, he couldn't see his reflection in the liquid magma. Turning back towards Elk, he motioned for them to cross a narrow wooden plank leading over the lava.

"This way," he said. "There's a switch across there that will close up the hole that some of the big boulders are falling from."

"Oh."

Elk tried not to look down as they crossed the narrow plank. Even though the Upgrade didn't register pain, it registered the falling feeling, and Elk didn't like that. Following Tsukasa, he found himself quickly on the other side, and sighed. He hadn't fallen down. He was okay. Tsukasa pushed the large ground-switch with his staff, and they heard the rumbling of stone moving. Just as Tsukasa had said, the hole in the ceiling on the right side of the room where the boulders were falling through was sealed. Elk was glad that there were torches to light the walls in this room, as well as the lava. He didn't like being in the dark. Things could sneak up on you in the dark, just as the PK had done to him.

"Where do we go now?" he inquired. "All the ways look the same to me."

"I don't know," Tsukasa answered. "Hey… there're some players over there. Maybe they know where to go."

"H-hey!" Elk exclaimed. "That's Raven and S-Sarath!"

"Your 'friends'?"

"I g-guess."

Tsukasa used his staff as a pole, and vaulted himself over the lava instead of walking across the narrow wooden board. Elk threw an ice spell, and made a pathway for himself across, running fast before the heat emanating from the lava melted it. He caught up to Tsukasa easily, and they walked over to the two female characters.

Raven was a HeavyAxe-type character, with a skin much the same as Subaru's. However, her short, neat hair was black and her outfit was gray-tone with tints of black and deep, deep blue. She had gothic-style markings on her skirt, and heavy boots instead of high-heels. Her wings, too were different. They were black, and much larger. Tsukasa wondered if she had tinkered with the skin herself, or found it somewhere on the net for download. But he didn't ask. It wasn't necessary to know.

"You're that cute guy from before!" Sarath exclaimed. Her blonde hair gleamed with the firelight, and her slightly-tanned skin bore the same type of wild markings as all of the other HeavyBlade skins. Tsukasa found that she had some sort of accent, and wondered if she was from Ōsaka. "The name's Sarath—though not in real life, mind you, and—Hey Elk! Guess what? I found my way back here after all, and Raven was waiting for me, and we saw some strange PK come in after us, but he disappeared in the darkness, and he didn't have any face, and it was sorta scary, and you said something a week ago about some PK talking to Mia, right?—well anyway, there was this really cool secret room in a niche in the wall in that dark staircase down here—did you see it?—and I found a cool item there, wanna see?" she paused to take a breath, but Raven interrupted.

"You are Tsukasa, right?" her voice was soft and sort of hard to hear with the bubbling of the lava and the crashing of the boulders.

He nodded. "So?"

"I've heard of you," Raven continued. "You were stuck here. You met Maha."

"You knew Maha?"

"Yes," she turned away, and said no more on the subject.

"Woooooow!" Sarath screeched. "You're **the** Tsukasa? I mean, it's not like, a really common name or anything, but I didn't think that **the Tsukasa** would ever come back into 'The World' after getting stuck here—I mean, I wouldn't—but you're here now, right? Hey Elk, are you two gonna come with us and do this dungeon with us, cuz you're such a strong Ice Mage and all, and my fire magic really doesn't to **squat **here, so are you gonna help us?"

"S-s-sure…" he said.

"Aw, sad that Mia's not here?" Sarath taunted, elbowing him in the arm. "Say, what are you hiding?"

Elk tightened his arms in front of the slash down his tunic's front, and didn't answer.

"Okay, then, don't tell me." she turned way in a huff, and then smiled. "Come on! Raven's like, ditching us here!"

Elk hesitantly followed the HeavyBlade-user girl, but Tsukasa stayed behind. The blue WaveMaster turned, and looked at him.

"Aren't you going to c-come, too?" he inquired, trying so hard not to stutter. "You wanted to see them."

"Nm," he mumbled. "Raven, is that her name?"

"Y-yes."

"I wonder where she knew Maha from."

__

To be continued in…

****

entanglement: 003

Note: Soooo… how was it? I **know **that nothing really has happened yet, but we're just setting up for the plot, okay? You need to know something about the characters' personalities, after all. I know that Elk is annoying, but he _sorta _talked like that in the game, _sorta_, and he does have a reason to be stammering, other than being uncomfortable. Raven is cool, and Sarath is played by some guy in Ōsaka! Ōsaka!! Yay!!! ^-^ Sorry. Anyway, yeah. Don't worry if you don't know anything about Mia or Elk—they're from the .hack games—because you really don't need to. Nothing that's happening to them in this happens to them in the game, so don't worry about it. And this story will get much better, we swear! Please give us feeeeeeedback! We live for feeeeeeeedback!!! Ōsaka = Osaka. I don't know if the special character will show up on fanfiction.net. This story was originally posted on our webpage, so some things won't show up here. Happy reading! Please drop us a line, or review!!!


	3. Entanglement

****

Note: Aaaaas you guys have probably noticed, this story does not run parallel at ALL to the games in any way besides that of some of the characters being mentioned. Prior knowledge of the game is not needed to understand ANYTHING in this story. Just saying. As for some of your reviews… check the bottom of this document (after you read it, hopefully) to hear my comments on what you took so much time to graciously tell me. Me. Not us. **Blue Sea** has been prolonging this chapter for a while, so I wrote it without their guidance; not like I heeded their words anyway…). So, please read and don't forget to review with your awesome feedback that you guys have been giving me!!

****

.hack//WAVE

entanglement: 003

Tsukasa stared down at the bug between his feet. It wandered around aimlessly and bumped into his brown sack-shoes. He pushed it around with the metal end of his staff, and rolled it over onto its back. "The World" was pretty boring now that he was no longer captive in it. It hadn't been the best experience in the world (**note**: pun not intended), but at least he had had fun in the end. Now everything just seemed to mundane for him to have much fun. He'd already done it all; everything worthwhile in "The World". That was one of the many reasons he stopped playing it for a long time. After being omnipresent, after having that power taken away, everything was boring.

"I guess that everyone knows about what happened to me…" Tsukasa murmured, not bothering to look at Mimiru.

"Well, duh!" she exclaimed. "It was on the BBS for so long, Bear, B.T. and I looking for you, questions about it, and then after you got out… other people could overhear our conversations and junk…"

"Nm," he mumbled. "This is stupid. I'm logging out."

"No!" she ordered. "C'mon, Tsukasa. **I **still think this game is fun. Let's do a dungeon, or something."

"Dungeons are boring. They're noting compared to what I went through."

"Well, if you try to **live** your character in the game, then it's fun! Pretend that it's real life, not VR, and then everything's more fun! Try to stay alive—pretend that it's your **real** life."

Tsukasa glared at her.

"What happened to you?" she groaned. "I thought you changed. You actually used to _talk_ to Subaru and I at school, now you're just silent and cynical—just like you were when we first met."

"That's how I really am."

"No it's not!"

"How would you know?" he rolled his eyes. "You only knew the virtual me. My face at school is different, too. You don't know what I really am like."

With that, Tsukasa stood up, and began to walk away towards the nearest chaos gate.

"Tsukasa!" Mimiru called after him. "Don't be mad! I wasn't trying to piss you off!!"

He ignored her, and was about to teleport to Mac Anu, but someone bumped into him. Looking down, he saw the cowering figure of Elk, the blue WaveMaster whom he'd met a week ago. Elk quickly mumbled for forgiveness, and pushed passed him, running and stumbling over his long tunic and his own feet as he tried to get away. Tsukasa turned his head and watched as Mimiru jumped out of his way; watched as the character fell on his face in the grass. Slowly, Tsukasa walked over to him, and bent down.

"Are you okay?" he asked it more like a death-threat than a concerned question, but there was some feeling meant in it.

"D-don't let it n-n-near me!!" Elk screeched. "G-get out of my way before it g-g-gets me!"

He tried to push himself up passed Tsukasa, but he fell back down as he stepped on his tunic. Mimiru raised one auburn eyebrow inquiringly, and waited for an explanation. Tsukasa made no movement to help or hinder him.

"Who?"

"T-that PK…" Elk tried to get the words out. He used his staff to propel himself off the ground, and began to run awkwardly away. However, he stopped when he saw a figure materialize in front of him. Elk made a feeble scream of terror, and jumped away.

The new figure was the faceless PK dressed in the black robes with the double katana blades. It reached out one dark arm, and grabbed a hold of the WaveMaster's trembling shoulder, bringing him closer. Elk screamed more, and Tsukasa and Mimiru stepped forward.

"Let him go!" the HeavyBlade-class player commanded, taking her long, thick sword from its virtual holster on her back. "I don't know who you are or what you think you're doing, but it's wrong to hurt other unwilling players in 'The World'!"

The PK tilted its white face towards her, and she frowned. Featureless, mundane, strange, blank. That's what its face was. The PK took one of its katana blades from its sheath, and threw it like a shrunken at Mimiru. She brought her sword up, quick as lightning, and the long weapon rebounded off to the side, spinning through the air and sticking into the grassy mounds of the land in Dona-Roiak. Mimiru readied her sword for another attack, but the PK made no move.

"H-help…!" Elk stammered as the PK brought its arm around his neck to hold him. The WaveMaster clawed with his small hands at the PK's black gauntlet, but it was to no avail. His fingers didn't even register the tiniest vibration or damage.

"Let him go!" Mimiru shouted. "We'll fight you if you don't!"

The PK turned its head, its lustrous, black hair falling over its blank face, and motioned towards the sunken sun, setting in the western sky, beyond the boundless clouds. Mimiru and Tsukasa hesitantly let their gazes follow to there.

The sun?

Tightening its grip around Elk's neck, the PK stepped backwards and reached down, taking the katana blade it had thrown at Mimiru out of the ground and instead of sheathing it, it held it point down. The two former comrades stared at the blade, wondering what would happen. The PK began to etch something into the ground at Elk's feet. The blue-tone WaveMaster moved his feet away, for fear that they would be cut.

"Let him—"

Tsukasa whacked Mimiru in the shins with his staff to get her to be quiet. She glared at him, but then her teal eyes moved towards the picture on the ground. There were two people in the picture, one with long, flowing hair, and one with short hair. They both wore simplistic gowns, and their hands were locked. They were walking in a path with waves on either side, and a sinking sun in the center between them. Mimiru blinked, and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"What the hell…?"

"T-t-ts-tsuka-s-s-aa!" Elk stammered. "Help me!"

Seeing that the two didn't understand its picture, the PK threw its head back as if laughing—but no sound came out. Mimiru tightened her grip on her sword, but didn't move. It took its katana, and began to move it slowly up to Elk's face.

"That's it!" the HeavyBlade-user shouted, stomping her foot on the ground and moving forward. "You're just playing with him. I hate you annoying PKs! Let him go or I'll see to it that you'll be thrown out of 'The World' forever!"

It said nothing, but just moved its sword until it was touching Elk's forehead. The crimson-eyed boy looked at the sword and swallowed his voice.

Mimiru charged forward with her sword, and tried to knock the katana away from the PK. However, the figure was nimbler than she, and it jumped up into the air over her, taking Elk with it. She turned around and faced it once more, trying to figure out when to attack.

"Tsukasa! That kid's your friend, right?" she whispered. "Help me out!"

Un-amused by her pathetic efforts, the Player Killer was about to throw its blade at her again, but Tsukasa ran forward. He did not use his staff, but held a ovular, shining object in his gloved hand. He brought it up to his mouth, and held it between his teeth as he grabbed hold of the front of Elk's shirt. He breathed out hard, and the ocarina made a shrill 'a' note, and suddenly, he and Elk disappeared from the Dona-Roiak server.

Tsukasa knew the item was banned.

He knew where it would take him.

But it was his only option.

__

To be continued in…

****

foundation : 004

Note: And here is to all the reviewers whom had questions:

****

Neohowler: Tsukasa really is a girl in reality, but since this is in "The World", and her character in "The World" is as male as you can be if you are a virtual bag of pixels, I am referring to Tsukasa as a "he".

****

Paladin: I appreciate you taking the time to say that, but I have some things to say. I am aware that Tsukasa is acting bitchy and uncommunicative. That is what his/her personality is. S/he did mature in the end of the series, and was able to make friends and talk to his/her friends fluently. However, his/her personality in whole didn't actually change more than that. Tsukasa is introverted, and never quite became extroverted and incredibly nice. Even near the end, s/he was never really nice and up to talking to everyone, s/he just cared about his/her friends and became more of a person. And, it **is** a fanfiction, not a real anything, so I can bend the characters to my will if I please to. Most fanfictions do that.

****

Fallenangel: Thank you for your understanding and nice review, and don't worry; not all reviewers are harsh, and you can just ignore the ones that are, because most of them have nothing to say anyway.

****

Gray: Yes, I have in fact watched the whole series, many times. I know s/he wouldn't avoid Subaru. It is **my** story, and I personally **hate **Subaru. She was annoying and not my type of character at all (though if any of you like her, that's okay with me; "to each his own"), and since this is **my **writing, I decided that Tsukasa would want to stay away from her annoying and clingy nature. Thanks for noticing that, though. And I was actually just emphasizing that he was stuck in "The World" for a long time, not necessarily giving an _exact_ time.

****

Doktor Rhyste: *shhhh* You're not supposed to know that!!

****

Silver Reflection: It does sound like a replay of .hack//SIGN, but I assure you that it will veer off unto a different path after a while. And don't worry about Maha; keep reading and you are assured to be pleased with what will come.

AND THANK ALL OF YOU WHOM JUST GAVE FEEDBACK AND NO QUESTIONS! I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH I AM GLAD THAT PEOPLE ARE READING MY (and Blue Sea's) FANFICTION!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!

This will be continued, duh. Yah yah yah, review, please!!!


	4. IGNORE THIS!

Okay, all I had to say is no completely irrelevant, because the people bugging this story have stopped (so far). So just excuse this random bit of ranting. and go on to chapter 5 (i.e. chapter 4)  
  
Thanks,  
  
-Cinnabar Scarlett 


	5. Foundation

**Note/Disclaimer: You do not have to have any prior knowledge of the .hack games to understand this story.  In fact, if you have never played them, you'll probably be happier with things, because this is a FANFICTION not a wannabe new .hack series.  Also, this has spoilers all mover for .hack//SIGN, so if you haven't finished that series and don't want things spoiled, read this later.  Thanks for your understanding!  I also refer to people as the GENDER OF THE CHARACTER IN THE GAME, not as the gender of the player. _Also,_ Elk may seem different for those of you who have played the game, and keep that in mind: there **is** a reason he's nervous and stammers and all. And I do know that not all the stuff in here is completely correct, but it's a fanfiction, so I can change _some things to fit the story, okay? Thank you for understanding. Oh, and thank you all for your reviews!  I read them all and love them!  Thanks for your feedback!! I hope to read more in the future (heh heh)! ^-^;;_**

**.hack//****波******

**[.hack//WAVE**]****

**foundation: 004**

"Get off me…"   Tsukasa whispered under his breath, trying to lift himself up off the hard ground.

Elk jumped up, and scurried away.  "I-I'm sorry."

"Nm…" he murmured.

"We're back here," Elk said looking around himself.   "The grass!  Doesn't it smell nice?"

"Not really," Tsukasa shook his head to try and get the dizzy feeling from being thrown around in cyberspace to leave.  "But—"

He was about to inquire about cat people, when he saw something that interested him more.  The sleeping child had shifted his position.  One short, white hand—like a baby's, plump and soft—was pointed up through the translucent blue water to the surface, rippled with waves like a desert made of sapphire.  Tsukasa's violet eyes slowly followed the gesture, and Elk looked up as well.  They could see the sun, blurred, over head, through the ever-moving mosaic water.  Not knowing what was meant, Tsukasa looked back down at the sleeping child, and gasped, dropping his staff to the ground and covering his mouth with his gloved hands.

The child had moved again.  His hand was no longer pointed towards the sky, and he was no longer lying down.  His head, as if propped up against an invisible pillow of currents, stared straight at Tsukasa, with eyes open and deep, like dark rifts in the world where nothing could escape.  Everything was swirling around those eyes, as if they were black holes, the epitome of nothingness, sucking everything into them.  The water had turned dark and murky, as if infested by the red tide, or another poisonous miasma of the sea, clouding its depths and cloaking its concealed treasures with a treasure-chest of mystery.  He tried to cover his whole face up, Tsukasa did.  He tried to hide from the eyes.  His stomach lurched, and he could feel himself shaking.  There was something so empty, so hollow about that stare the child gave him.  He didn't like it at all.

When Tsukasa looked up, everything was back to normal.  Elk was giving him an inquiring stare, as if wondering what on earth could be wrong with him.  "Are you… okay?"

The earth-tone WaveMaster held his head in his hands, and made no attempt at answering.  What was that that he'd seen?  Had the child really looked at him, really opened his eyes—those ungodly portals to hell!—and stared at him?  Surely not, he decided.  He was just getting tired, and needed to log off and go to sleep.  That was a reasonable explanation.  But what if he _had_ actually seen that?  What if that really had happened?  It wouldn't be like _her, like Aura.  Nothing was wrong anymore, in "The World".  It was safe to play now.  He'd never have to go through that experience ever again.  He hoped._

"Are you okay?"

"I guess," Tsukasa sighed, staring hesitantly out at the floating child.  "What do you think that meant?"

"What?"

"The sun," Tsukasa said.  "That PK that was bugging you drew a picture of two people holding hands in the middle of a split sea with the sun between them.  What does it mean?  Is this some sort of weird quest, or a bunch of idiots playing a joke?"

"I don't know," Elk looked down at his feet.  "But…"

"'But'?"

"That PK," Elk swallowed hard.  He had to get it out.  He had to say it.  It would bug him for the rest of his life if he never got it out of his system.  "It…"

Tsukasa stared on at the blue-clad WaveMaster, waiting.  But Elk said no more.  "Come on," Tsukasa said, "let's leave.  I think we'll be safe to go back to Dona Roiak now.  The PK probably couldn't stay in a server root town for too long bugging people before someone took action."

"O-okay," he nodded in agreement.  "D-do you want to l-look up on the quest?"

"What quest?"

"T-this one," Elk pointed towards the child with his staff, and then looked back at his companion.

"Oh."  Tsukasa thought for a moment, and then answered, "Sure.  Try to ask around those 'friends' of yours if they've heard anything about it.  I'll look around for some of my… friends.  Maybe some one knows something."

"What about the BBS?"

"I don't want to try it," Tsukasa said.  "Too many people read there, and they'll probably just disregard it as someone's cry for attention if we post something about a messed-up server and whatever."

"Oh.  O-okay."

"Mia," Tsukasa said, sitting down on the grass, "You said that she was a cat PC that you met.  Whatever happened to her?"

"I don't know," Elk turned his head.  "She disappeared.  I w-want the grass so that I can give her s-some when she c-c-comes back."

"What if she doesn't come back?"

"What?" Elk looked over his shoulder.  "But she will.  I c-could use it to lure her to me?"

"Sure," Tsukasa didn't mean it sarcastically, but he sighed as he said it, and set his head on his knees.  "Isn't this game supposed to be fun?"

"What?"

"Is that all you say?" Tsukasa inquired.  "No offense, but… it's kind of annoying."

"Sorry," he murmured.  "Why do you play this game if you don't think it's fun?"

"My friends wanted me to," he answered.  "They guilt-tripped me into it, I guess.  But I guess it's sorta' fun, sometimes.  But… well, you know what happened to me.  Somehow it just all seems stupid after that, you know?  Normally, I wouldn't want to go back into something that I've had a bad experience with, especially a near-death experience… but…"

Elk waited.

"…but normally I don't talk this much to anyone, either, so I guess that, in its own way, is okay, right?"

* * *

"A quest that has something to do with the sun?" Sarath asked.  "I don't know.  I mean, I got this spiffy armor with the sun symbol from some high-level dungeon and all, but I don't think that it's anything that had to do with the sun or anything.  Not to mention it was just a dungeon, not like, anything big or anything."

"Oh," Elk said.  "Do you know who would know about it?"

"Well, try Raven," Sarath said, stretching.  "It's late in Osaka.  Is it that late where you are, too?  I just tried inviting her into my party, but she's not online—which is quite strange for her, Raven, I mean.  She might know, though.  Try to like, e-mail her or something."

"Thanks."

"Oh, and by the way," Sarath smiled, "you know that friend of yours, Tsukasa?"

"Y-yes?"

"Do you think you and him might wanna do another dungeon with Raven and I sometime?—because that would be just _totally cool and I'd really enjoy that because he's—well, she's—really fun to bother because she gets annoyed really easily—or something like that."_

"Huh?  Sorry, you talk with everything slurred together, so it's hard to understand…"

"Are you making fun of my accent?"

"No," Elk knew that Sarath was only joking.

* * *

"Oh, you mean that stupid, annoying PK that we met earlier?" Mimiru asked.  "God, that guy was _obnoxious_!  He just didn't know when to give up, you know?  I hate people like that!"

"Okay…"

"Tsukasa!" Mimiru said, slapping him on the back.  "Cheer up!  What's with you now?  You were so happy once you got out of being stuck in 'The World', and now you're back to being unsocial and cold!  Do I need to get Subaru in here to cheer you up?"

"No, that's okay," he said.  "So you don't know about it?  That picture the PK drew…"

"Yeah, it was like two people and a sun or something," the HeavyBlade said, waving her hand in a vague direction upwards.  "One of them was female, one male, or something, right?  Maybe if what you said was true about that kid in the secret server, then one of them is Aura and one is that new child."

"I never thought of that…"

"Well, that's what I'm here for," she winked and smiled.  "Where's that friend of yours?"

"Elk?  He's asking his friends about the server."

"He reminded me a lot of you, when I first met you in 'The World'," she told him.  "I mean, I didn't really get to talk to him, but just the way he moved and acted… the way he spoke…." She smiled and shook the thought away.  "Well, anyway, if you find out anything, buzz me and I'll try to help, okay?  I've gotten up a couple levels today, so I'll be tough and ready for some fights, right?"

"Nm," he mumbled.

* * *

"I didn't get anything," Tsukasa sighed, lying down on the grass of the root server, Dona Roiak.

"Me n-neither," Elk said.  "Raven wasn't on, and I'm sure she'd know.  Her or Mia."

"Wanna give up for the day?"

"Well…" Elk said, "If we're really going to get to the bottom of this thing, then w-we'd probably want to get some foundation knowledge pretty soon."

"I think we have something," he said.  "That PK.  It _wanted_ us to do this quest or whatever.  It showed us that diagram of the people and the sun and all.  I think that it's trying to tell us something.  Maybe you should try to attract its attention?"

"No." Elk said this tersely and sharply.  "I don't like it at all.  It's no good, and it's probably just trying to get one of us thrown into a coma or something."

"Then you want to give up on the quest?"

"No!  T-that's not what I mean," Elk said.  "I mean that, well… I don't know.  It just doesn't seem right that that PK w-would give us something helpful.  Not after… not… after…"

"Do you know where we can get a hold of any hackers?" Tsukasa inquired.

"What?  Why?!"

"Well, my friend said something to me that was sort of interesting," Tsukasa mumbled.  "She said that maybe in the picture, one of the people was Aura, and one was that other person we found.  If you got a hacker, we could find some storage files of Aura's data, and bring her to her 'prince', and maybe that'll do something."

"That's right!" Elk said, ecstatically.  "And maybe then the sea in that server will part in two and show us the sun.  The secret sun we're searching for, right?"

_to__ be continued in…_

**journey: 005**


	6. Finale

Dear Readers,  
  
Due to many circumstances of differing nature, I am no longer continuing to write this fanfiction. The main reason being that I am trying hard to finish my original stories, and don't need something else to occupy the sparse writing time I have. If you liked this, then please, please, please read my original works. I'm sure you'll find the same things likeable about them. Visit my bio for the link to my original stories.  
  
Thanks for your understanding, Cinnabar Scarlett 


End file.
